08-15-15 Lincolnwood Mayor Defends Palestine Flag Display

The Mayor of Lincolnwood Illinois, Gerald Turry, defended the decision of the Human Relations Commission to rebuff complaints from a handful of activists demanding that the Palestine Flag be removed from a display of ethnic national flags placed on Lincoln Avenue in the north suburban Chicago community. Lincolnwood has displayed ethnic flags representing the various nationalities in Lincolnwood for the past 10 years since 2004 and this year had more than 60 flags on public display during August which is designated as Ethnic Pride Month. Turry, who is Russian Jewish American said that the issue of politics and the battle between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was not an issue and had no relevance over the display of the flag. During an interview on Talk of the Town Radio show with host Ray Hanania on WCEV 1450 AM Radio and live on www.YahalaVoice.com, Turry said that he received some negative and vulgar complaints following the meeting last week but that the overwhelming majority of residents of Lincolnwood, Jews and Arabs, supported the decision to keep the Palestinian Flag on display. Turry said that the commission also had debates between Greeks and Turks, Indians and Pakistanis, and other rival ethnic groups but said only the debate over the Palestinian flag received media coverage. More than 200 people attended the Human Relations Commission meeting on Monday August 11, 2014. Talk of the Town Radio show is presented by Yahala Voice radio and The Arab Daily news at www.TheArabDailyNews.com.